Author: Proud Mpofu

By Martin Morrison

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 11th of June 2020. Find the full article here

In Jewish society at the time of Jesus, there was a common form of teaching called “haraz” or “a string of pearls”. Luke 12 would be a very good example of this teaching method, where pearls of teaching are strung together like a string of pearls. There are nine such “pearls” in Luke 12, and we will explore each pearl individually over the next two weeks, starting today with Luke 12:1 – 3. It will be most helpful if you can have that passage open in front of you.

You will notice in vs. 1, that Jesus is preaching to a crowd of many thousands. Perhaps the Orlando Pirates Stadium in Soweto comes to mind! What made it somewhat chaotic is that because there was no sound system or loudspeakers, everyone tried to get as close to Jesus as possible. In fact, there were so many that they were trampling on each other.

Jesus is teaching his disciples in the midst of this crowd. No doubt, what he says to his disciples, will be overheard by the outsiders. The dual purpose of Jesus’s teaching meant that many would hear and obey. Many outsiders in turn would become insiders.obvious purpose being that when they hear and obey, the outsiders in turn may become insiders. Which, incidentally, is a very good reason to invite your non-Christian friends to church or send them a Christian article, inviting their comments. Let’s never forget thatLike you and me, we were at one time outsiders who became insiders, when we were exposed to the words of Jesus, by a kind and patient friend.

Jesus starts this string of pearls with a stunning warning.
In vs. 1, he says, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy”. Most of us know that the Pharisees, were a strict religious movement within Judaism. They were regarded as the custodians or interpreters of the law of Moses. They would have been regarded as the most religious, most moral upstanding members of Jewish society. Perhaps today, many in our culture would consider priests and ministers and rabbis in this category. Perhaps, someone like myself. However, most unexpectedly, Jesus was very often in conflict with them. He very often used them and their teaching as a foil to his own teaching. Almost always they were at loggerheads…Keep Reading

By Martin Morrison.

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 27th of April 2020. Find the full article here

If only I’d come from a better family. If only that accident didn’t happen. If only I had better health.

If only I could be married
If only I had a better education.
If only I didn’t marry this person
If only I could have children
If only my children weren’t so disobedient If only I had more money.
If only that partner hadn’t stolen all the money. If only that boss hadn’t fired me.
If only I lived in another country.
If only I wasn’t in this lockdown.
If only …….

The thing about our “if only” is that there is some truth in all of them. They are all plausible. We live in a broken world. We have all been sinned against in all kinds of ways and more times than we can number. None of us have ever lived in ideal circumstances or perfect relationships. Ever.

The critical flaw with the “if only” mentality, is that I think my greatest problem exists outside of myself and not inside me. David hits the nail on the head when he says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me”. Psalm 51:5. What David is saying is both counter-cultural and almost offensive. He is actually saying that my greatest problem in life is not external but internal. He’s also saying its’ been there from the moment of my conception…Keep Reading

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Rosie Moore

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 9th of October 2020. Find the full article here

“The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”  Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Gen 3:12-13)

Blame-shifting is an idol inherited from our ancient ancestors. It’s an insidious idol of the heart that threatens to poison our relationships, especially the unique one-flesh bond of marriage. Left to rule the roost, this idol can lead to an abusive marriage in which a manipulative husband uses every trick in the book to avoid being held accountable for his own behaviour. A wife may play the victim or get angry and aggressive if her husband fails to show her the sympathy she feels she deserves. As Christians, we must recognize that blame-shifting is an idol that has set itself up in every human heart since the Fall. It is a tendency that is in each one of us as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.

The original ‘victims’

Genesis 3 tells us that every marriage has an Enemy, and that enemy is not our spouse! Notice that Satan slithered in by stealth to tempt the first married couple (Gen 3:1). He didn’t announce himself as the Enemy. And yet, before Adam and Eve knew it, Satan had slandered God’s goodness and his Word (Gen 3:4-5). He convinced the first humans that God was a killjoy and that they could judge for themselves what is right and wrong.

Then, instead of taking responsibility for their sin, Adam and Eve blamed each other, blamed God and blamed Satan (Gen 3:12-13). Adam accused Eve, and even blamed God for giving him his wife. “The devil made me do it!” said Eve. They created scapegoats to divert from their own guilt. In today’s language, Adam and Eve played the victim card. Their rebellion was everyone else’s fault except their own.

Tragically, each of us carries into our marriage this idol of blame to protect ourselves and hide from our guilt. We look for solutions out there, to avoid looking into our own rebellious hearts, which do not worship or love God as we ought. We pretend to be the poor hapless victims of other evil people or circumstances…Keep Reading[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text][fusion_text]By Rosie Moore

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 25th of September 2020. Find the full article here

And Jesus said to them…“from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife^, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Mark 10:6-9).

The Great Architect of Marriage

If you’re willing to turn to God for marital advice, you’ll soon see that His Word says a lot about your marriage. After all, He invented it and joined you and your spouse together in the first place (Mark 10:9). God doesn’t just care about your prayers, going to church and reading your Bible. His command to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ tells us that every human interaction, including every interaction with our spouse, is a spiritual matter. After all, isn’t my spouse my nearest neighbour? (Mark 12:30-31; Deut 6:4-5).

So then, how I treat my spouse and take care of my marriage, reveals how seriously I take God’s character and his commands. Marriage cannot be separated from the command to love God. It isn’t just some pesky problem that can be zipped up in a sleeping bag and put in the cupboard, while we get on with our lives. In fact, the way we love each other is a window into our relationship with God (1 John 4:7-12).

The good news is that the God himself gave us foundations to build a lasting marriage at the very beginning of the Bible:

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him….” ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
    because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Just as the earth is subject to the laws of physics, this amazing text lays out God’s Laws which govern Marriage. He is, after all, the Architect. Here are two of them:

Law of priority

‘Leave and cleave’.

On the sixth day of creation, a comfortable rhythm is disturbed. “It was good” is replaced by “it is not good”. Why this sudden break from the pattern…Keep Reading[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

By Martin Morison

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 20th of July 2020. Find the full article here

If I were to ask you, what are the marks of ungodliness, I wonder what you would say? I guess most of us would immediately think of moral sins like drunkenness, sexual immorality, racism, greed, the second half of the Ten Commandments.

Here in Psalm 27 David addresses three major marks of ungodliness, which we rarely think of. Autonomy, omniscience and control. We normally think of ungodliness in moral categories, not mental categories. These mental categories of ungodliness arise, when we fail to seek God’s face and merely contemplate our own.

Here in Psalm 27:9 – 14 David, corrects our mindset and reminds us of three marks of godliness. Dependence not independence, learners not masters, patience not impatience. In fact these three marks in some way reflects the first half of the Ten Commandments!

DEPENDENCE

In vs. 9 – 12, David, in five negatives, expresses his total dependence on God, by calling on God in prayer:

“Hide not your face”, “Turn not your servant away”, “Cast me not off”, “Forsake me not”, “Give me not up”. There is a clear note of anguished dependence. David feels alone, destitute and forsaken by God. He doesn’t respond in anger or wilful defiance against God, as we often do when we find ourselves up the creek. He doesn’t respond in withdrawal from God, which we also sometimes do, when we feel that God has abandoned us. No, he tells God exactly what he feels and calls on God in total dependence.

One of the tragic results of sin, is to cause us to buy into the delusion of independence. Independence is what the serpent sold Adam and Eve. It’s a lie and it goes like this. You can be whatever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do. Tragically, the quest for independence never ends in independence. It ends in slavery. It ends in tears. It ends in some kind of addiction or worship disorder. We were not wired to be independent. We are wired to be dependent on God…Keep Reading

By Martin Morrison.

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 21th of May 2020. Find the full article here

What’s important about Ascension Day? The simple answer is nothing at all! There are no special sacred or religious days as such for Christians. Everyday belongs to the Lord. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He is the Lord of time and space. Every second of every day is under the headship of Christ. There is not a square millimetre of space or a micro-second of time to which Jesus cannot say, “It is mine”.

Alright. So perhaps we need to rephrase the question. What is important about the ascension of Jesus? Well, that’s quite a different question. It is hugely important to the Christian faith and to every Christian. The historical record of the ascension of Jesus is given to us by Dr Luke in Acts 1:1 – 11. You would greatly benefit if you could read the portion. Let’s unpack this topic under two headings.

Firstly, it is quite clear from the Lukan record that what we have here is historical. William Neil, who is usually conservative in his conclusions, tells his readers (without argument) that Luke was conveying theological truth through symbolism and poetry. Others have argued that Luke lived in pre-scientific days with a totally different cosmology. Surely, they say, you can’t really believe in a literal ascension as recorded by Luke? Well, all you need to do is to read the narrative for yourself. There is no sign of poetry or symbolism. It is unsentimental, even austere. It reads like history, as if Luke intended us to accept it as history.

It’s historical importance is that it visibly signified the end of the earthly ministry of Jesus. His earthly ministry commenced with the incarnation and ended with the ascension. During the forty days between the resurrection and ascension, Jesus kept appearing, disappearing and reappearing. His six-week ministry of post resurrection teaching had come to an end. And so he visibly and publicly ascended, so that his disciples would know that he had gone for good. They were not to keep looking for his appearing but to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of his Spirit. Jesus’s earthly ministry was confined to a particular time and space. Palestine in 30 AD. The next phase of Jesus’s ministry required his physical exit and then the entry of his Spirit which would not be confined to time and space.  So the ascension of Jesus leads to Pentecost which inaugurates what Jesus continues to do on earth through his Spirit and the apostles. Without the physical departure of the earthly Jesus, there would be no arrival of the Spirit of Jesus, not only to Palestine but to the ends of the earth…Keep Reading

By Roydon Frost

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 01th of April 2020. Find the full article here

2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour…
1 Timothy 2:1-2 (ESV)

Anyone who’s ever led anything for more than five minutes, will very quickly have learnt an important lesson: it is a whole lot easier to criticise than it is to actually do something. Franklin D Roosevelt put it like this:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

As South Africans we are world-class critics, and there is no-one we love to criticise more than our public officials – often with just cause, but seldom with the humility that comes from recognising our own limitations as leaders in whatever it is we lead…Keep Reading

By Martin Morrison

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 07th of May 2020. Find the full article here

“Black Dwarf” was the name his enemies called him. And the short, dark-skinned Egyptian Bishop had many enemies. He was exiled five times by four Roman emperors spending 17 of his 45 years he served as Bishop of Alexandria in exile. His enemies accused him of murder, illegal taxation, sorcery and treason. He lived from 296 – 373 and he has become one of my all-time heroes.

The reason that Athanasius is one of my great heroes, is not only because he was a major African leader, but because he almost singlehandedly saved all of Christendom from a great heresy. A heresy so great that the Gospel itself would have been lost. Humanly speaking, none of us who are now Christians would have been saved. Let me explain.

The accepted teaching of the times, was Arianism. Arius, taught that the Son, was fully human but not fully God. The Son was created, the Son was a creature and did not share in the deity of God. Arius taught his theology through music. Christians throughout the Roman Empire would sing a catchy tune which stated, “There was a time when the Son was not”. Which by the way shows the huge power of music!

Athanasius correctly argued that Jesus was both God and man in the same person. One person, two natures. 100% God and 100% man. Supernatural, you’re right!! For Athanasius it was not a matter of splitting theological hairs! Salvation was at issue. Only one who was fully human could atone for human sin; only one who was fully divine could have the power to save us. To Athanasius, the logic of New Testament salvation assumed the dual nature of Christ…Keep Reading

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]By Rosie Moore.

(New Series: Spirit-filled)

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 29th of May 2020. Find the full article here

It’s like clockwork.

Every evening around 6pm, I have the same blank when I look at the raw food I took out the freezer for dinner. It’s not just that my four kids hover around the kitchen, sniffing nervously at the empty pots. Nor is it a lack of ingredients or equipment. And it’s not that I want to starve my  family! No, my problem is lack of inspiration. I don’t have a clue what to do with the pieces of raw chicken staring at me from the chopping board!

But I know that the solution to this daily vacuum is to put on my apron, turn on the oven and take out a colourful cookbook. Within minutes, my mind is ticking with a plan and chewing on delicious ideas. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been cooking every evening for the last 28 years! My mind must still be rebooted and reminded of how much I love good food. My senses must be re-calibrated to see, taste and smell the rich potential in that ordinary chicken carcass…if I just add a little onion, garlic, olive oil to the pan. It’s just as Nigella Lawson says, “I don’t believe you can ever really cook unless you love eating.”

I don’t believe you can really be filled with the Spirit unless you love Jesus! That’s because, being Spirit-filled is never a mystical experience divorced from the person, work and word of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s nothing like the self-absorbed flow of ‘new age’ meditation. The Holy Spirit is an unpretentious member of the trinity who doesn’t seek centre stage. He is more like a spotlight that magnifies Christ as the star actor and radiates glory to the Father. Like a director who coaches Christ’s understudies. Or like an optician who sharpens our vision to see Jesus more clearly (John 15:26; 16:14). Sinclair Ferguson says we should think of the Holy spirit as the “closest companion of the Lord Jesus.”

And so, the more we meditate on Jesus, the more his Spirit fills us. And the more we are filled with his Spirit, the more we treasure God and love our neighbour. The fruit resembles the filling.

Not a once-off wonder

If the truth be told, who of us can naturally produce the Spirit’s harvest table, namely, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Especially in the everyday kitchen of life, where people drive us crazy; where the media fills us with fear; where people die, lose their jobs and go hungry. Unless we are filled by the Holy Spirit, we cannot produce his fruit…Keep Reading[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

By Martin Morrison

This is one of our top devotions of 2020 published on the 25th of April 2020. Find the full article here

The word paradox is a seemingly absurd or contradictory proposition which, when investigated, proves to be true. The Christian faith is full of paradoxes.if it is anything, is a distinctively Christian concept. What on earth do I mean? According to Dale Ahlquist, there are two definitions to the word paradox and both are important. Firstly, a paradox is something strange, uncommon, the opposite of what we would expect. Secondly, it is two statements, both of which are true, but which absolutely contradict each other.
G.K. Chesterton the prince of paradox, made the following statements, which all seem so strange at first, but on reflection are absolutely so true:

• The self is more distant than any star
• Nature worship inevitably produces things that are against nature
• Charity to the deserving is not charity
• A man in peril can only save his life by risking it
• The book, “Beauty and the Beast” is the embodiment of the unreasonable maxim which says to every mother with a child, you must love the thing first and make it lovable afterwards

The Christian view of human nature is in fact rooted in paradox. Whilst animals are only body, man is both body and spirit at the same time. Our body comes from the dust of the earth and our spirit comes from the breath of God. What an extraordinary paradox before the fall! After the fall, we are still both body and spirit, but now an additional paradox has been added. We are both very great and very wretched at the same time:. Very great, in that we are still made in the image of God, however flawed. Very wretched, in that we have rejected our Creator and thereby rejected any lasting purpose in creation.

This is of course another paradox! When you reject the authority of the Creator and his Word, you don’t get freedom and fresh air. On the contrary, you become enslaved to your own little ego and its vanities. The very oxygen of life is sucked out of you. What’s the point?

I recollect that it was Pascal who said, that no philosophy or religion except Christianity has taught that man is born wretched. Which means that none has told the truth. It is only the truth that will set you free. It is only the truth that can find a way out of the darkness and thin air. As we’ll see, it is Christ alone who can lead us from wretchedness to happiness. It is Christ alone and the worship of Christ alone…Keep Reading